RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 32: Uchū Kaubōi

Caldera Base, Level 1
Abandoned Hallway - Hangar

The shortcut Charbon had opened for William was faster than going through the equipment room and then to the hangar. When he got to the large hangar door, he could see mechanisms to open it and also a porthole to look through where he saw a handful of NMX Neko in the entire room: two at a console near a starship, one operating a trolley vehicle about fifty feet away from them, and three standing at a starship's open cargo bay ramp looking over a manifesto or data pad.

Holding Pen

Kasa and Sif entered the holding pen with ease. Not only did they know the route since they had just come from it, but the NMX forces that had been clambering after them seemed for the most part gone. There were some idling in the far hall, absorbed in some discussion with their backs to the garage door that the pair had to prop open by a foot to slide under. Further into the holding pen, though, was a guard. Not an NMX Neko, but an Advanced type with a gashed chitinous set of bleary, clouded eyes whose oldest scars were in the dozens and who sported a new, revolting wound that leaked from pustules dotting its edges. Around its maw and between its tentacles was a cage-like contraption meant to stop it from taking meals. To its left was an empty corral where old cow patties littered the ground; no doubt where the cattle the Kaiyo trio had brought would have ended up. To its right, a pile of NMX Neko bodies whose chests rose and fell sporadically but remained unconscious.

Caldera Base, Level 15

Its curiousness at the server room’s open door having done it in, the first enemy beast had fallen—unfortunately on top of Molli. Then the brown Mishhu clipped into by Morgana and Hoshi had Molli back up with renewed vigor and bludgeoning its wounds fatally, pushing out the life of the creature that had thrown its brethren into Rio. With the princess’ focus on utilizing the combat control room against its normal inhabitants, the chains and pulley systems had been embedded in and used against another of the Mishhuvurthyar, sinking it into the hot magma below.

After a few long seconds, a flare of fire erupted between the downed creature. The deep tar-like colors of the magma alighted into crisped reds and sunny yellows around it as more flashes of fiery blazed sparked around it, combusting around the Mishhuvurthyar as it sunk almost imperceptibly lower into the molten liquid. The macabre sight taught the Neko that saw from above what could have happened to Molli or Rio had they been against the slow moving magma longer.

Hoshi looked about and was gratified to see only two Mishhuvurthyar left, both currently occupied by Morgana’s and Molli’s attacks. One of the fuchsia terminals close to them flickered, overheating as it was wrought with the same torridness that two of her crew had been exposed to. The captain felt her heart thump in her chest as her peripherals took in a source of swinging sparks coming from one of the wires that would otherwise led to the terminal below it.

Her teeth bared between her rosy cheeks, Hoshi sucked in a breath and turned to regard Rio. The NMX Nekovalkyrja was charred but not broken, brought to the extreme threshold of what her body could bear. It pained the captain, but she had to ask more of the enlisted crewmen in order for their mission to have any merit at all. Or perhaps more truthfully, in order for the suffering to have any meaning.

“We have to get back in there. Help me at one of the terminals, if you can.” Hoshi said to Rio, her voice soft in a way that did not carry the inflexibility of a typical order.

“Interesting. They’ll resleeve anyway.” To Morgana, Hoshi responded in her digital mind with an equally terse tone devoid of the warmth Rio had been given. “After we’ve downed them all we’ll heal them with the Mishhu’s hemo then.”

Morgana’s shots hit into the leader, but it quickly moved behind the Advanced accompanying it as a shield. A round hit the monster and it turned to face the server room just as Molli struck into that Advanced Mishhu with a ferocity all her own. It was taken aback, pulling away from its boss nearest it as Molli tore into it, making it possible for Morgana to land a shot on the room’s leader. But quickly it righted itself back where it had been.

NMX Nekovalkyrja were not built to be able to take on a Mishhuvurthyar alone. If anything, their creation aligned with subservience to the Mishhuvurthyar overlords. Unlike Molli’s last target, his one had remained mostly untouched so far and there were minimal breaks in its chitin to take advantage of with her weapon. The Mishhu’s closer side of tentacles swarmed upwards, ripping Molli off of it with the full strength of its appendages. The momentum of being extracted alone put G-forces on her Neko body as she was pulled rapidly in one direction.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Abandoned Hallway - Hangar

William stopped well before the hanger door as he led the herd forward, trying to stay far enough away that the animals didn't get him spotted too early. Dismounting, he crept up to the porthole and peered inside. There were six combatants he could see. Many would balk at the idea of a six-on-one fight. But for the Kaiyo veteran, this was just par for the course. However, he did wish that he, too, had brought some heavier firepower. Taking stock of his ammo reserves, he reloaded both revolvers. He could make short work of this had he brought his Cyclops armor. Or maybe a machine gun...

Several plans raced through his mind, though he realized this would all hinge on one thing. Whether or not he could quietly crack the door open or if the damn thing would swing wide and creak the whole way. Moving to the mechanism, he said a silent prayer before he attempted to quietly crack the hanger door slightly. If it opened silently, he would try to make his way inside slowly. If not... he had explosive rounds loaded and ready to go.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

It might have been the chaos of the fight breaking out, but nobody seemed to have paid her much mind as she made her way to the pen. With the invisible SAINT agent now following her, she could at least count on not being alone if her cover was blown. It was nice of Kasa to take the Aether rifle off her hands since while no one would question why she had it, they would question why she had it and heading for the holding pen. Not to mention the plasma cutter on her as well. Can't really claim she was doing repairs.

For a blessing they didn't catch any attention when they popped out from under the garage door, but looking around, the challenge might be coming up.

"This might be trouble," she telepathically told Kasa when she spotted the Advance Type. Was this the one William shot? If it was, then surely she'd be recognized. But she kept calm. She just needed to get past him. Just act like she was there for repairs. Her eyes had drifted to the Neko bodies. She couldn't get a good look, but she hoped that Hihja wasn't there in that pile, and she didn't look to confirm lest the Mishu question what she was looking at.

"... where a guard is dropping sedated food."

Charbon's words rang in her ears. She couldn't have mean those Neko...?

"Please tell me this isn't what she meant by sedated food... If that's the chute we need to go through... I could make a break for it. What do you think?" she asked her invisible companion. If needed, Cynea could talk her way in. She had a tool in hand, and she could handwave her guns for pest control. But her blood was starting to boil, thinking about the unconscious nekos. Surely they weren't being used for food... right?

Caldera Base, Level 15

Sahty's entire body hurt. The pain was easily the worst she had experienced in her short life. Every movement and every breath brought a new wave of agony, the few surviving nerves of her scorched side practically screaming. Beaten and burned, all she wanted to do was curls up somewhere safe. To heal. Hoshi's request stopped Sahty's unsteady flight towards the relative safety of server room. She was asking Sahty to keep going. Her duty was not yet over. "Understood. What do you need me to do?" Sahty asked Hoshi wirelessly as she turned to face her small captain.

Although the former Nepleslian was now of the same race as her heroine, the princess, that didn't make her the same caliber of warrior. That clarifying thought rushed to the forefront of Myga's mind as the Mishhu's appendages wrapped around her waist and effortlessly flailed the young woman through the air like a helpless ragdoll. The chaotic sound of battle distorted into surreal and distant trills, and her vision narrowed as though she was forcibly pressed against a thin lens -- evidence of the extreme force that her body was being put through. Though she maintained an iron grip on her rifle -- her only hope of defense by this point -- it was impossible to strike the mishhu with any degree of strength.

Myga threw herself in the opposite direction that the Mishhu yanked her, causing her torso to fold forward. Mouth agape and teeth bared, Myga bit down hard on the tentacle circling her waist and shook her head from side to side like a rapid dog. The taste of the creature's rancid flesh and blood made Myga want to vomit, but she didn't relent in her savage assault.

Caldera Base, Level 15

The Kaiyō team's sudden surprise attack had much to even the odds down from the five Advanced Types who'd moments before stood in the way of their mission, but the two angry Mishhuvurthyar left after that initial burst of fury remained terrifying obstacles each able to rip through the wounded Nekovalkyrja infiltrators with little effort. Unaware yet of the full extent of Molli's burn injury, Aiko's decision to help the body-swapped Nepleslian was thus without question as it thrashed the girl about. The other enemy would need to wait its turn, exposed as it was to gunfire without a friendly in its clutches.

The princess dashed through the air toward Molli and the Mishhu, drawing her reclaimed Yamataian katana as she vectored her approach. Its worn steel blade still held some polish—enough to mirror the dim orange-red glow of the lava below—whose reflection formed a flat blur as Aiko swung the sword in the sliver of space between Molli and the Mishhu's bulk.

"Together!" the Ketsurui shouted at her comrade right when her blade severed the Mishhu's tentacle. The appendage didn't immediately release Molli, but squeezed even tighter about her torso as it spasmed when its nerve impulse control was terminated. But soon enough, Molli found herself holding the detached limb aloft in her teeth like an alley cat feasting on a prized cephalopod meal.

Aiko, for her part, pressed the attack and slashed at their foe again. From any vantage it looked almost as if she was bouncing off and away from it with her Neko inertia control to come in at a new angle with every strike, each one accompanied by a ghostly arcing glow through the heat's shimmering haze when her katana caught the magma's gleam.

"Target clear!" she called to the others, ready with their rifles, now that Molli was no longer entangled. "Take this one down!"

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen
“Slow and steady.” Kasa replied “You are an NMX Neko, you’re meant to be here. You’re moving with purpose, and you know exactly where you’re going.” She continued, coaching Sif. “Its fine, you see the squids eating your still living comrades every day.” Her inflection became sardonic and strained for a moment before continuing in a more supportive cadence. “Just don’t think about it. Head to the chute, I’ll roll up on him from another vector and give him something else to think about if he starts looking at you too closely.”

A couple of footsteps formed in the dust in the direction of the Mishhuvurthyar before ceasing as Kasa floated above the ground. She took position so the pile of bodies was between her and the Mishhu, wincing slightly as her peripherals caught sight of the still live mass of NMX Nekos.

“If they are going to eat them its simply sadistic. They have an NH 29 facility here. They could grow new ones and not upload a personality matrix. Or you know, make some dumb living meat.” Kasa commented idly “Instead, they’ll eat the live ones and grow a new one. Some kind of productivity incentive?”

Caldera Base, Level 15
Even as her Mishhuvurthyar target ducked behind its comrade, Morgana kept firing. She aimed low, to the soft flesh under its carapace hoping that the rounds would pass through. She caught her breath as Myga crossed close to her field of fire, having to force her finger off the trigger.

She kept her eye down the length of the barrel, waiting for her opportunity to shoot, her finger hovering over the trigger. A few came, but she was too hesitant to shoot with an ally so close to her target. With Aiko joining the fray her finger extended all the way out. She took a few deep breaths through her nose as she gritted her teeth, keeping the weapon pressed against the doorway alcove so she was stabilized for when her chance came.

It was only when Aiko said she was clear did she fire again. The metallic penetrators sliced through the air, Morgana keeping to her tactic of shooting them in the face as best as she could muster.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Hangar

The large door opened quietly, obviously of a newer design than the ones deeper within the abandoned hallway. Nobody seemed to take notice or were at bad angles to really notice the movement at the door William was at.

Holding Pen

“Bill don’t care so much,” the Mishhuvurthyar said in an unsteady, but uncomfortably Mishhuvurthyar psionic as he twisted away from the pile of bodies he had been staring at to look at Kasa.

“Can’t eat you, but Bill would.” His words grew sharp with hunger as he tapped the contraption at his maw with a sticky barbed tip of his tentacle.

Level 15

Morgana’s short-lived shots with the mass driver into the purplish leader did little to dissuade it from working at its console somewhat smugly ignoring the fight around it. It gingerly laid the NMX Neko it still held on top of one of the monitors at its station. She bent awkwardly at the hip, but stayed securely there.

With half of the captain’s attention still on the fight, she was able to hear Aiko’s call to action. But the other half remained split between finding a console sequestered away from the fighting near the chute and guiding Sahty. She wanted to put a hand around her hip and let the injured Neko lean on her, but there was no doubt she would aggravate the injuries that way.

So she held back and spoke wirelessly. “See if you can log in to this terminal. Or at least fake credentials as best you can.”

Instinctively and out of a diligence instead of any cognizance, she raised her M4 and took conservative shots, knowing she had finite ammo now that the NMX flak vest was off of her and in the magma below. Splaying the heavy shots from the barrel of the pistol, Hoshi barely looked at her target as she shot into it with precision. Her eyes were split between Myga and Sahty. Seeing Aiko toting the NMX with its prized catch between her fangs, Hoshi relayed the scientist’s idea.

“Faelan-shoi believes we can use the hemo in the tentacles on their burns.” Hoshi sent out to Aiko and Molli.

When Morgana began shooting into it again, the leader Mishhuvurthyar found cover behind the monitor it had laid the unconscious NMX Neko on top of. Though her emerald eyes were closed and her hair dlopped in front of her face, it was obvious to Myga who this was. No doubt Hihja had been put on the top of the pile of bodies to be eaten next by the Mishhuvurthyar that controlled this base when she had been knocked out by Molli.

With its tentacles free, the Advanced had opened a drawer below the console, pulling from it an Impaler Rifle and a service pistol before it dove slightly to catch its comrade just after Aiko had sliced into it. Aiko’s flurry of attacks and Hoshi’s shots into the Mishhuvurthyar that had been holding Molli hadn’t done it in, but had severely limited its abilities. It had so few tentacles with which to fight that the the purple leader had few options in what to grab. But it did so and was now using its brethren as a secondary meatshield. It held the bracklish-colored Mishhu with its central tentacles so that its chitinous top was a shield while its side appendages held the guns, shooting simultaneously at the server room where the mass driver rounds were coming and at Aiko and Molli.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Hangar

Luckily, the door slid silently open allowing the ID-SOL to slip into the hanger. Placing his revolvers back into their holsters, he pulled his kusarigama out.

It was times like this he wished he'd still had his old jacket. The one with optical camouflage. Still, he'd have to make do. He kept to the shadows as he moved towards the closest NMX Neko, the one operating the trolley. Once he was close enough, he would eliminate the neko.

Once she was eliminated, he could use the trolley to create a little diversion. He would send the trolley careening up the ships ramp and into the three nekos checking the manifests. Then he could eliminate the two at the console during the chaos. He had to be ready to improvise though. Plans rarely survived first contact with the enemy.